Australians tell of panic and squalor among refugees

Page Tools

A Sydney woman caught in New Orleans was in shock after a man
apparently fell to his death metres away from where she was
standing in the city's Superdome sports stadium.

Vanessa Cullington, 22, from Castlecrag, was travelling after
spending the American summer as a camp counsellor in Maine. Using a
borrowed mobile phone, she described to her boyfriend, Toby Salmon,
a growing sense of panic and chaos in the Superdome.

She said those who had taken refuge there were struggling to
remain calm without power, flushing toilets or air-conditioning and
with little food and water. The Los Angeles Times reported
that "at least" two people had been raped.

"She was pretty distressed," Mr Salmon said. "She was crying and
really freaked out by the situation, just not knowing how long
she'd be there. She has concerns for her safety. It all sounded
crazy. That guy had just jumped and died. She said some people were
out of control."

Mr Salmon, who said he was "angry" at a lack of information from
the Government on stranded Australians, will fly from Sydney to Los
Angeles this morning. From there he will fly to Houston, where he
hopes to be reunited with Ms Cullington.

"The latest reports are they're moving everyone from there to
Houston so I presume that's where she'll be. Fingers crossed."

An Australian couple have been forced to sleep under a bridge
near floating dead bodies and to steal bottled water to survive,
their daughter in Rockhampton says.

Tamara Miller, 27, said her parents, Joanne and Tim, have no
food, no water and little money and are concerned for their safety.
They were able to contact her after dialling a toll-free number
from a public phone to a US-based friend who patched the call
through to her.

"They are worried. Mum was crying on the phone. Nothing worries
Dad. He's a typical Aussie male. On the first night it was all
right but now it's getting on."

Meanwhile, Fiona Seidel and Katie McLean, sisters-in-law from
Brisbane, remain stuck in their hotel in the French Quarter of New
Orleans as water continues to rise around them. They have heard at
least one gunshot outside the hotel.

They had been about to board a bus as those remaining in New
Orleans were evacuated but were turned back at the last moment,
said Gail Youngblutt, Ms Seidel's aunt. "Both of them are not
coping well, they're stressed out severely and are starting to
crack."